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Author Ailsa Abraham celebrates Beltaine

Today, I'm hosting fellow Crooked Cat author, Ailsa Abraham. With the feast of Beltaine (or Beltane) upon us, she has looked at modern day celebrations. Fascinating!Oh, and don't miss out the giveaway on her website - see link below!

BELTAINE NOW

Beltaine is coming and there will be a lot of articles explaining what it is and how it started but not many which cast a light on the way modern neo-Pagans celebrate the festival of the Goddess and her Lord's “wedding”. I put that in inverted commas because I am trying to be discreet, in none of the many erudite works I have read to the sacred couple make any vows.

These days, rather like Christmas or Bonfire Night, the celebration of Beltaine can be a huge public affair or a very private one, with all possibilities in-between.

Probably the biggest Beltaine Bash in the UK is in Edinburgh and involves processions, fire dancers, music and the traditional pairing off of couples to go up to the wild on Arthur's Seat, the big hill behind Edinburgh to finish off the night/start the morning with a bang (if you'll pardon the expression). Given the usual weather in Scotland at the beginning of May, good luck to them, I say. If you are willing to expose your nether regions in those temperatures, you deserve all the fun you can get!

I was lucky enough to belong to a Wiccan coven for some years and our festivities, although much smaller than the Edinburgh one, were equally enjoyable. Members of the group would come from all over France to meet up at the house of the High Priestess and Priest (a married couple). As twilight fell we would process in our robes out to the garden and form a circle where the young Horned Lord would chase his Lady until he caught her by trapping her with a silk scarf. Their union was represented by a kiss and the usual ritual with the sharing of the cup and bread followed. After a feast indoors we would pair up to celebrate in our own individual ways – each their own Goddess and Horned Lord.

For pagan couples who do not belong to a coven, Beltaine is a night of feasting, decorating the house with the May-blossom that has just started to bloom and to celebrate love. Candles will be on the table and specially-baked bread, sometimes in the shape of the Willendorf Venus, one of the earliest representations of a fertility Goddess. This will be shared out during the ritual that takes place around the table before the feast. Some couples dress up in their finest fantasy disguises, others stay in their jeans and t-shirts but the spirit is the same. A fire festival to celebrate love and fertility.

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And to celebrate Beltaine, Ailsa is offering a prize of her Pagan novel Shaman's Drum. To enter the contest, go to her web site and answer one simple question:

http://ailsaabraham.com/the-big-beltaine-give-away/

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About the author:

Ailsa Abraham comes from a long line of Scottish witches although she received no formal training until she came to France, where she has lived for over twenty years.

She shares her chaotic but welcoming household with her husband, usually known as Badger, two spoilt dogs and a woodstove with a mind of its own …

Taking early retirement due to ill-health gave Ailsa the opportunity to write full-time. She now publishes articles, short stories and novellas under two pen-names but keeps Ailsa for her more magic- centred work.